The father of a 17-year-old student is campaigning to change Britain’s banks because he cannot find one that will give his child, who identifies as genderqueer and non-binary, an account – because all the online application forms require customers to be either male or female.
Keith Farnish, 45, told BuzzFeed News that he and Kaelin, who live in a small village in the Scottish Borders, have gone to bank after bank in a quest to find just one that will allow them to join up without having to tick one of two gender boxes.
“When you’re filling something in and you don’t identify as male or female and you only see those two boxes then you don’t see yourself there,” said Farnish. “You are absent. That must hurt, and that’s what makes me angry. There’s no reason for it. It doesn’t need to be like this.”
This Teenager Can’t Get A Bank Account Because They Don’t Identify As Male Or Female